MOUNT GILEAD — The Morrow Little Theatre recently received a $1,000 donation from the Bonecutter Family as part of its monthly Charitable Giving Campaign. Rockwell and Krista Bonecutter presented the check during the Sept. 14 MLT board meeting at Park Avenue Elementary School.

“We are honored by the support from the Bonecutter Family. Their support will provide us the opportunity to continue our promise to provide quality live theatre to Morrow County,” said MLT board president Joey Powell.

MLT is a small but talented local theatre group preforming popular plays locally. The group is almost all volunteer, occasionally paying a guest director or a pianist. It started by friends that were tired of driving to Marion, Mansfield, Bucyrus, Galion, and further just to be in LIVE stage productions.

Powell and Ken Barnett got the idea to start the theatre company around 2009. They started working on the idea for the structure of the company and in December of 2010, they held what would soon become MLT’s signature event, Christmas in the Village.

Since then, MLT has been going strong performing popular shows like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma, Diary of Anne Frank and Shrek.

The community has embraced the theatre who currently meets and rehearses at local venues and performs around the county. The funds from the Bonecutter donation will assist with the costs of two upcoming productions.

The first is the re-enactment of the Victory Shaft Dedication on Sept. 28 in downtown Mount Gilead. The Second will be “The Elephant’s Graveyard” which, according to Powell, is something very different than anything the theater has performed in the past. “It is darker and will challenge our actors in ways we have not done before.”

The Elephant’s Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge. It will be held at the Morrow County Fairgrounds on Fri.& Sat. October 25th and 26th at 7PM and Sun. Oct. 27th at 2:30 p.m.

Brucker stated that costs to bring a play from page to stage can costs thousands of dollars. MLT operates entirely on donations and is a 510(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

“Our family and community recognize how important the creative arts are in any community. In that spirit, we are obliged to support the performing arts. No better example exists in Morrow County, than the creative minds and heartfelt energy provided by the volunteers of the Morrow Little Theatre,” said Rockwell.

For information about Morrow Little Theatre you can email them at: [email protected] Donations can be mailed to: MLT, P.O. Box 86, Mount Gilead, Ohio. 43338.

The Bonecutters award a $1,000 donation every month, through the Bonecutter Family Trust, to a group or organization in Morrow County. If your organization would like to be considered as a recipient of the Bonecutter Charitable Giving Campaign, visit Bonecutter.net and click the Charitable Giving link to download the application. The application can also be found on their Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/bonecutters/

Mail the completed form to: Bonecutter Giving, 6200 State Route 95, Mount Gilead, OH 43338 or send via Email to: [email protected].

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Submitted story